Jack
Hi, I just wanted to tell you about our experience with micro chipping. We live
in England and breed miniature Shetland ponies. This year we had three
successful foals and about a month ago they were micro chipped. Before being
weaned they had lived in a herd of 10 ponies and were all perfectly happy and
healthy ponies. We brought them in for weaning and then about 3 weeks later
called the vet to have them micro chipped. They seemed fine immediately after
the micro chip was done.
Two days later we went to take the smallest of the three Jack to his new home (a
field just 5 minuets walk from ours) but he wasn't right - his back legs were
stiff and he couldn't walk properly. Needless to say he didn't go to his new
home that day but he improved quickly and we came to the conclusion that he had
been playing a little rough with his little friend. About four days later he
went off to his new home perfectly happy and healthy it seemed. Only a couple of
days later his new owner rang in a panic to say that Jack had fallen over in the
field and couldn't get up. We went to see him and my partner picked him up and
stood him on his feet, he shook his head and was fine. The vet came but could
find nothing wrong with him - said maybe it was some kind of a fit. The next
time he was found flat out in the field we got him up but he couldn't stay up,
every time we put him back on his feet he would collapse again. The vet this
time said that it was a problem at his poll !
with the nerves on the left side of his neck. At this point we gave the new
owner her money back and brought him home.
Our own vet gave him an anti inflammatory and said that if it didn't work then
they would need to do xrays etc to find the source of the problem. He went as
far as to say that the micro chip couldn't possibly have caused this kind of
injury but that when Jack pulled back when he was injecting it (I was holding
him and I would say he flinched rather than pulled back) he may have caused
himself to worsen an underlying fault that was caused by 'bad breeding'.
Jack went down hill unbelievably quickly after this, we lived in fear of finding
him flat out with his head in a water bucket or some other such disaster and the
pony seemed to be in pain and uncomfortable all the time. The anti inflammatory
did not seem to work and we were seriously considering ending his suffering. We
did not need to - on Sunday 14 November 2010 we found Jack dead in his stable.
Jack was a perfectly happy, healthy miniature Shetland who died a painful,
traumatic death at the age of 6 months. We can never prove that micro chipping
was the cause but even if it wasn't it was most definitely the trigger.
I am going to post this everywhere I can - it is wrong of governments to force
people to inject a foreign body into our horses. The more of us who stand up and
be counted the more chance there is we can revoke such pointless legislation.
Thank your for reading.
Colt
About two months ago, the foals at the breeding farm where I work were chipped.
The breeder is completely into chipping horses but I am not.
One of the colts is very scared since he was chipped. He hardly lets you touch
him to brush him off, especially around the neck area where he is chipped.
I noticed that he cannot bend his neck as easily as he used to and the place of
chipping felt warmer than the rest of his body for a couple of weeks. To see
this change in him really breaks my heart because before this ordeal he was so
easy to approach and handle. The woman who chipped this foal was not a vet but
was trained to implant chips by the breeders association. At the time, three
foals were chipped.
All of them were taken in a solid holding position. While the woman's husband
shaved a small place on the foal's neck, he told everybody he did not like
horses at all. He just accompanied his wife because she had so many foals to
chip that day. He put jodium on the place that he had just shaved. Even though
the foals were really scared and nervously jumping around (especially the foal
with the problem caused by the microchip implant), his wife inserted the needle
with the chip. It was like watching an operating line in a factory.
You can touch this foal all over but not at the place it has the chip. The
temperature at that spot was higher for quite some time and now there is a lump
at that place.
Besides all that, the foal started itching on the left side of his neck. When
asked to bend his neck to the left, he cannot do so. Bending his neck to the
right is no problem. The foal did not have this problem before he was chipped.
The other two foals seem to be okay. However, the chip is clearly visible with
the youngest foal and you can feel where it’s located. The breeder keeps saying
the foal is perfectly healthy and is just being stubborn.He says the problem has
nothing to do with the chip. In his place I would say the same thing if I wanted
to sell this little guy.
I feel so sorry that a little colt like this is probably damaged for the rest of
his life due to an identification system that is all but safe and secure.
I would not even consider chipping a foal that is born under my roof.
Unfortunately, I am not able to give you pictures because the breeder will
recognise them and that would cost me my job.
A story from Belgium
I came to your site and wanted to tell you about the problem
the microchip is causing my horse.
My horse is an Arabian mare who is almost 17 years old. She is white and
susceptible to melanomas. Last year she developed a lump on her neck. At first I
thought it was another melanoma.
Some time later, the vet examined the lump. The vet (not the same vet who
chipped her) took an echo and told me the lump was caused by the chip that was
fully surrounded by scar tissue. I cannot say for sure if the other problems
that she has are the result of the chip but this lump is very obvious.
I am very sad that our government chooses chipping as a way to identify our
horses and pray that one day they will offer another option.
Another tragic example of how chipping foals
can go wrong
On July 15, 2009, the foal I bred was chipped. Unfortunately, the person doing
the chipping only called one hour before he was on his way. I was at work but
went straight home. Because there was so little time, I could not prepare myself
or the foal as I would have liked. It crossed my mind to call it off because I
dreaded the chipping. Nevertheless, I decided to go through with it so it would
be done and out of the way.
And then everything went wrong. I just had time
to put the foal into the stable when the man doing the chipping arrived. This
made the foal pretty frightened. The man said to put the foal into the corner of
the stable in between the two of us. When she started to jump around, he told me
to let her. Sadly, just when the needle with the chip was put in the foal’s
neck, she jumped. Instead of jumping forward, she seemed to fold herself
completely to one side and then jumped up against the stable wall. The result
was a big gaping wound that needed to be stitched by a vet who put her under
sedation. The chipper and the breeding association paid for all the costs and
handled the situation well. The foal needed antibiotics, but the wound and scar
seemed to heal well. It looked as if there would hardly be any visible evidence
left. In the worst case she would have a place where you could feel the scar.
Later that year I sold the foal to someone who knew the foal all her life and
knew about this chipping accident.
On February 6 of this year, the person called to
tell me that things were not going well with the yearling. The youngster had an
abscess as big as a tennis ball on her neck. The person called the vet to the
farm to examine the abscess.
I see the young horse on a regular basis while it’s growing up in a herd with
other youngsters at my property.
The abscess was located about 1 inch behind the scar of the unfortunate chip accident and we suspect the chip was the cause of it. The vet agrees. The owner of the yearling contacted the breeding association. This time they did not want to assume responsibility because there was too much time between the accident and the abscess.
We will ask the vet to document his findings in a paper. The abscess cannot be caused by anything else. The horse has always been vaccinated in the breast muscle and has never had another accident or wound. In the meantime, the vet cut the abscess open in two places. It was obvious there were two places the abscess wanted to break. One was on top of the old scar, the other one was an inch back. I’m afraid this is not going to be a little scar anymore. I really hope she is going to be fine. The vet says there is a chance that the youngster is going to lose the chip and that the scar on her will stay clearly visible this time.
After this sad experience I really wish they
would come up with a safer method to identify horses. I have had a total of four
horses chipped. One adult horse and three foals. The adult horse and one foal
did not mind being chipped. One foal, which was used to being handled and halter
trained, was extremely frightened for the first couple of days after the
chipping and could not be approached.
With this foal, things did not go as planned either. The chip ended up on the
stable floor but at least now as a fully grown horse she does not seem to have a
problem.
Viper
The owner, K., tells the sad story about Viper, a two year-old stallion who became lame after being chipped. In the end, Viper was euthanized.
The owner says:
'On March 1st 2002, a black stallion named Viper was born. This was the first
foal I’ve ever seen being born. It was a very emotional event for me and Viper
was of great sentimental value. As it turned out he had a really sweet
personality.
Because we did not like the idea of chipping, we kept postponing it until April
13, 2004. On that day Viper was chipped. On April 14, when we took him out of
his stall, he was lame. We didn’t think too much of it and started walking him
for the next couple of days and hoped the lameness would fade away. After a week
there was still no change, in fact it seemed to get worse.
We called the vet out but he did not know what caused the lameness. The vet
suggested that we take Viper to an equine hospital. After that we went to a
couple of more equine clinics. Some vets thought it could be wobblers disease.
However, no one could tell us what caused the lameness or how to fix the
problem.
In the meantime, Viper got worse. He started shaking his head, lost his
coordination, and could not walk in a straight line anymore. Finally the vets
advised us to put him out in the pasture for the whole summer and wait to see
what would happen.
Sadly enough, Viper did not get any better. On July 10, 2004 this young stallion
completely lost his balance, fell over sideways and hit the fence.
The vet came but we already knew this would be the end. We all had the chance to
say goodbye to Viper and then the vet put him out of his misery.
I still miss Viper every single day. He’ll always have a special place in my
heart. Viper, R.I.P. Boy!!'
Photo of Viper a few days before his death:
Lady Santana
The horse named Lady Santana has been examined by Dr. Eric Laarakkers. The mare shows a very painful spot exactly where the chip (micro transponder) has been injected. Bending her neck to the left is practically impossible. She is in constant pain and doesn’t know how to hold her head to relieve the pain. Riding her has become dangerous. Even when she is relaxing in the meadow she shows signs of pain by constantly moving her head in all directions. The veterinarian concludes that Lady Santana has neurological damage as a result of injecting the microchip.
Click here for the letter that the vet wrote regarding this case-study.
Efrida, 13 years old, chipped when she was 8 years old
We have a thirteen-year-old Friesian mare called
Efrida. We had her microchipped by our vet in 2001. In the summer of 2006 we
gave her a green clay cleansing cure with the hope that it would help with her
sweet itch problems. One of the properties of green clay is that it expels
foreign bodies from the animal.
To our amazement, in November, the microchip worked itself out to the surface of
her neck. Four weeks later, the chip fell out. Knowing what I now know about
microchipping, I am relieved that the chip is gone! However, now Efrida has a
lump of scar tissue!
Foal
Another adverse microchip reaction: After
injecting the chip (2005) in the foals neck, the area became badly infected.
The wound eventually healed but the horse still does not allow anyone to touch
him in that place..
Mare, 4 years old, chipped when she was 2,5 years old
According to the owner of this mare, no
mistake was made by the vet who injected the chip. Nevertheless, the mare has
severe problems bending her neck to the left, which causes her to shift her
hindquarters to the right. The mare has a constant visible spot of sweat running
down her neck, even when she’s standing still and not doing anything at all. The
owner had high expectations for her because of her beautiful conformation and
wonderful gaits. However, now the mare is worthless for sports.
The first picture shows the mare after doing about a 1 minute work on the lounge
line. Note the sweat running down her neck. The sweat originates from the place
where the chip has been injected.
The second picture was taken after 10 minutes of work.
The last picture was taken after 15 minutes of rest - after the 10 minutes of
exercise on the lounge line.
We also examined the right side of the mare’s neck. There was no sign of sweat on the right side. (We took the pictures ourselves.)
Foal, chipped in August 2006
Four weeks after being injected with a microchip, the foal developed a big lump. The foal had an infection because of the chip in his neck and now the lump is as large as a tennis ball. The owner says the spot is very painful and the foal will not let anyone touch him in that area. In the owner’s opinion: ‘It is obvious this foal is in pain. Identification with DNA is a much better option because at least the infection and lump would have never happened. I’m convinced that DNA identification is a much better way of preventing of fraud in any way.
Jacky, Haflinger, chipped in the summer of 2004
The owner of Jacky says: ‘After the microchip
implant procedure, Jacky did not want to be touched in that area anymore. In
addition, I could not ride him. For nine weeks my vet and I tried everything to
make Jacky better but we did not have any luck. Eventually, thanks to a
homeopath, I was able to ride Jacky again. However, his mane has permanently
disappeared at the location where he was chipped.
Darinka, mare, 4 years old, chipped in 2003
Since Darinka has been chipped, there is a lump
on her neck at the site of the implant. She also has physical problems; bending
her neck to the left is very difficult for her.
Litho, gelding, 12 years of age
Since he has been injected with a chip, there is
a lump on his neck.
Physical problems are currently unknown.
Microchip problems experienced by a horse dealer
The horse dealer says: ‘I bought a pony from a breeder. The pony was already
chipped before I bought her. I wanted to put her in an auction, so I had her
examined by a vet. However, he could not find the chip. The vet even went back
to his car to get another microchip reader but that didn’t make a difference. He
checked the horse all over but was not able to find the chip.’
Note: It is possible that the chip was expelled from the body. However, it is
also possible that the chip was still in the pony but it may have been
defective.
A large study ordered by the EU Commission revealed that in the end, only about
80% of the microchips still function. That leaves 20% defective and
untraceable!! (The EU report is available
here). This means that in order to locate a chip which needs to be removed
in slaughterhouses, the entire body of the horse should be X-rayed (and do you
see that happen in slaughterhouses?). As a result, the microchips can end up in
your food (as has been proven in May 2005 in two cases in the Netherlands). It
is very sad that the government does not take this problem seriously and chooses
to look the other way. This leaves meat-eaters in danger of consuming pieces of
glass and metal.
It also appears that the EU Commission does not think it is a problem if a
microchip implant ends up in your food. Although the conclusion of the study
that involved more than 900.000 animals left the investigators saying the
microchip is unsuitable for identifying animals slaughtered in the EU, the
Commission still seems to be pursuing the use of microchip implants to identify
animals.
A breeder of a foal that was already sold, had the foal chipped just after the youngster was born. The neck got so badly infected that the foal had blood poisoning. All of the antibiotics given could not save the life of this animal. The foal was just a couple of months old when she had to be put down.
We have taken photos and videos of some of the cases mentioned above.